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dan farmer

A quick round up of how Fire first teamers Marco Pappa, Orr Barouch, Sean Johnson and U18 Youth Academy product Reid Strain fared for their countries in Wednesday's FIFA international date...

Guatemala 3, Paraguay 3 - RFK Stadium in Washington, D.C.

Guatemalan midfielder Marco Pappa received the call up for los Chapines’ friendly against Paraguay. Pappa played for 77 minutes in the 3-3 draw, scoring a penalty that Carlos Ruiz drew. Pappa later set up Manuel Leon for Guatemala’s second goal on the night. Guatemala gave up the two goal lead, conceding three goals to Paraguay before former MLS star Carlos Ruiz tied the match from the penalty spot.

Israel U-21 2, Russia U-21 2 at Arena Khimki in Khimki, Russia

Making his fifth appearance for the Israeli U-21's, Orr Barouch logged 84 minutes and would tally his second international goal for the visitors in the 36th minute. Barouch’s shot, struck with his left foot from outside the box, hit the left post before going in the back of the net. Russia struck back, tying the game in the 56th. Israel took the lead again in the 71st when Mohamed Kalebat scored. Russia would not be outdone, and tied the match six minutes later in the 77th. See highlights of the match below...

USA 1, Mexico 0 - Estadio Azteca in Mexico City, Mexico

Goalkeeper Sean Johnson was called up by head coach Jurgen Klinsmann for the United States Men’s National Team’s friendly match against Mexico Wednesday night. Johnson didn’t see any time in the match, but was able to be a part of the history that was made when the US defeated Mexico at the Azteca for the first time in the 75 year history between the two sides.

Spain 2, Puerto Rico 1 - Bayamon, Puerto Rico

Chicago Fire U18 Youth Academy product Reid Strain was an unused substitute in Puerto Rico’s 2-1 loss to Spain. The result was considered positive for the Puerto Rican side and was a valuable experience for Strain.

Vying for an MLS-record fourth U.S. Open Cup trophy, the Fire put their best foot forward against the LA Galaxy when Nate Jaqua scored in the opening minutes of the game (10’). Jaqua scored off of a diving header to knock in the ball which had been pinging around the box after a free kick. Six minutes later, Andy Herron would head in a crossed ball from Justin Mapp, pushing the Fire up 2-0. To make the match more interesting, LA’s Alan Gordon pulled one back in the 51st minute. Still, the Men in Red did not back down as the game wore on. Fire winger Tony Sanneh burned down the left side and passed across the box to Thiago, who chipped the ball into the goal in front of a celebratory Section 8 at Toyota Park.

One week prior to the Fire’s first appearance in the US Open Cup final, they had won the MLS Cup in California. With an excited 18,615 fans greeting them at Soldier Field, the Fire had reached the final game of their inaugural season. Only a minute before the end of the first half, the Columbus Crew goalkeeper Juergen Sommer gave up a penalty. Fire striker Jerzy Podbrozny calmly buried the penalty kick. The Crew, however, leveled the match in the 53rd minute with a goal from Stern John. Tied at the end of regulation, the match headed into extra time. Finally, in the 99th minute, the Fire got their chance from a corner kick. The short kick dropped to Ante Razov, who headed it downward in front of goal. Frank Klopas was there to receive the pass and lifted the ball into the upper netting to give the Fire the “double” in their first season in Major League Soccer.

After going 20-12 in their inaugural season (draws led to shootouts at the time), the Fire made their way to the MLS Cup Final against D.C. United, who had reigned as champions since 1996, the first two years of MLS’ existence. Goalkeeper Zach Thornton stepped up on the day, making 8 saves to keep the clean sheet. The first goal from the Fire was assisted by Peter Nowak, who drew out the goalkeeper before laying the ball to Jerzy Podbrozny to score. The second goal was also assisted by Nowak, who made a run along the edge of the box before shooting. Nowak’s shot deflected off of Diego Gutierrez, who was credited with the goal.

In their first home match in Major League Soccer history, the Fire were taking on the now-defunct Tampa Bay Mutiny at Soldier Field. With a hearty crowd of 36,444, the Fire would deliver results on this spring night. Frank Klopas got the first goal of the match in the 43rd minute, with an assist from Zak Ibsen. Klopas would score again in the 88th to secure a brace and lead the Fire to their first home victory. The total combination of the inaugural home game, a 2-0 win, and two goals from the Fire’s future coach would make this a match to be remembered.

The Fire outshot rivals New England Revolution 20 to 7 in this physical Eastern Conference Final. With neither side scoring in regular time, the match went into extra time. It took until the 101st minute for the Fire to score, off the back of a run from substitute Justin Mapp toward the goal line. Mapp cut the ball back, passing to the center of the six-yard box. Damani Ralph then attempted a weak shot, but it surely would have been saved without captain Chris Armas there to finish it off. At the time, the golden goal rule applied, meaning that the game was complete and the Fire were Eastern Conference champions.

In the 44th minute, Fire legend Ante Razov broke past the Miami Fusion defense on a breakaway. After drawing out the goalkeeper and dribbling past him to the side of the six-yard box, Razov centered the ball to Hristo Stoitchkov. Soitchkov easily slid the ball past one defender to score the first goal of the match. Later, Fire favorite DaMarcus Beasley streamed down the left wing, beating his defender. Beasley put a low cross into the dangerous area in front of goal and Fusion defender Tyrone Marshall mistakenly knocked the ball into the net for an own goal. While the Fusion would grab a goal through Welton once before the match was finished, the Fire had put in enough effort to win the match, counting them as US Open Cup champions for the second time.

Stay tuned later this week for the final three matches in our #Fire15 Countdown... Check out our previous countdown videos below:

In our third installment of the #Fire15 Memorable Matches countdown, we look back to the 2009 Eastern Conference semifinal vs. New England, the 2003 Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup Final at the MetroStars and the 2001 Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup semifinal at LA Galaxy.

In the first leg of the 2009 Eastern Conference Semifinals, the Revolution defeated the Fire 2-1 at Gillette Stadium. In the 35th minute, Marco Pappa received the ball in the box, feinted past one defender, then laid the ball off to John Thorrington, who shot it low into the New England goal. The superb crowd of 21,528 roared in response to the aggregate equalizer. In the 82nd minute, Patrick Nyarko beat his marker near the corner flag and rushed parallel to the goal line toward the box. After drawing out the keeper, Nyarko nutmegged another defender and passed short to Cuauhtemoc Blanco. Blanco took a short step forward and lifted the ball up to the top right corner to push the Fire to the Eastern Conference Final.

The 2003 US Open Cup Final took place at Giants Stadium, where the field was lined with football markings. In the 68thminute, Evan Whitfield broke in from the right sideline through the end zone, centering the ball to Damani Ralph. The Jamaican forward needed only one touch to slide the ball around MetroStars goalkeeper Jonny Walker. The Fire would only need one goal to be rewarded with the US Open Cup for the third time.

This physical match resulted in a total of 12 yellow cards between both sides. Fire defender Carlos Bocanegra earned a red card in the 51st minute, putting the Fire down a man. LA Galaxy icon Cobi Jones would score the opening goal in the 79th minute. Down to ten men and trailing by a goal, it surely seemed that the Fire’s run in this US Open Cup was extinguished. However, the Men in Red rallied through Fire legend Ante Razov, scoring in the 85th minute. With the score level, the match went into added time and in the extra frame the Fire would lose captain Peter Nowak after Luis Hernandez purposely stepped on his face but referee Sergio Vega only produced a yellow card. Still without Nowak the Fire strung together 10 passes before Josh Wolff buried a rebound to send the side to its second U.S. Open Cup final in three seasons.

Prior to this match, the Fire had tied New England 0-0 at Gillette Stadium in the first leg of the Eastern Conference Semifinals. Playing at home for the second leg, the Fire found their way to driver’s seat just before the half when, Cuauhtemoc Blanco's shot from the edge of the box forced New England goalkeeper Matt Reis cough up a rebound. Chris Rolfe put himself in the right place and casually knocked the ball into goal to give the Fire the lead.

Four minutes later, Justin Mapp's perfectly placed free kick toward goal found the head of Wilman Conde who pounced on the chance with the header to take things to 2-0.

The Fire would put the match out of reach when Chris Rolfe's cutting low cross was calmly finished by Gonzalo Segares, giving the Toyota Park crowd 16 minutes to sing about going to the team's seventh Conference Final appearance in 11 seasons.

With a sour taste in their mouths from the 2000 MLS Cup defeat to the Wizards less than a year before, there were truly fireworks on this Fourth of July matchup at Arrowhead Stadium. The Fire didn't take long to take off in the first minute with a goal from Jamar Beasley.

The feasting on KC continued when Sergi Daniv (7’) made it 2-0 inside 10 minutes before U.S. international Eric Wynalda's 44th minute goal took the team into the half at 3-0.

After an early first half lull,the Men in Red sprung back into action, as both Peter Nowak (72' and 81') and second half substitute Hristo Stoitchkov (83' and 88') tallied two goals each inside the final 20 minutes to make this match one to forget for all in Kansas City.

The Fire dominated the majority of this regular season match, with eight shots on goal to D.C.’s one. Still, the Men in Red were continually thwarted by United goalkeeper Bill Hamid.

With a scoreless deadlock and both teams' playoff hopes hanging in the balance, referee Jorge Gonzalez whistled Fire defender Gonzalo Segares for a foul in the box on Santino Quaranta in the 88th minute. Lethal MLS attacker Dwayne De Rosario stepped up and sent Sean Johnson the wrong way on the spot kick, giving the home side a late lead.

Despite the foul, Segares kept his head up and laid off a pass for Sebastian Grazzini to equalize in the 92nd minute.

Just as it looked like both sides would settle for a draw, Segares would chase down Orr Barouch's hopeful endline ball, and center his effort past a flailing Hamid, leaving Diego Chaves an empty net to finish in and giving the Fire an incredible 2-1 "Capital Comeback" victory.

Stay tuned next week for Games #7-10 in our #Fire15 Memorable Matches countdown!

On Tuesday we began encouraging Fire fans to use the hashtag #VoteFIRE in tweets to spread awareness for the Twitter MLS All-Star vote that begins Thursday as well as have a little friendly competition with our rival and Saturday's opponent Columbus.

As of our last tally, there have been over 1,100 tweets mentioning #VoteFIRE in the past 24 hours. Before kickoff Saturday, we will calculate the results between the two teams to determine a winner.

We certainly wish to thank the fans for their support, but the election season has just begun. Tomorrow will mark a shift in our campaign focus as we push you to the Twitter polls to vote Pappa, Pardo, Oduro, Johnson, Segares and Grazzini.

To make it easier, we wanted to make sure everyone knew how a Twitter vote was counted.

#VoteFIRE kicks off

This week, we're encouraging fans to use the hashtag #VoteFIRE to help spread the word and get out and vote for the Men in Red for MLS All-Star on July 25th. On Saturday, June 23rd, we will calculate the results between the two teams to see who's the winner. Here are the best tweets from yesterday..

The first match of the 2012 Euros featured Greece taking on hosts Poland in Warsaw. Polish Borussia Dortmund star Robert Lewandowski wasted no time getting the first goal of the tournament hammering down a cross from Jakub Błaszczykowski with his head. Although it would be difficult to top the bizarre opening ceremony, the referee did his best to become the focal point in the match due to several controversial calls, which were later described by some Greek supporters as “ridiculopoulous.”

Greek Sokratis Papastathopoulos received a debatable red card for a push and the Greeks headed into halftime down a man and down a goal. At this point, I like to imagine that Greek captain Gorgios Karagounis gave a rousing locker-room speech reminding his men of Spartan King Leonidas from the film 300; “No retreat, no surrender!”

With this call to arms, his men responded though a goal from Dimitris Salpingidis to even the battle. Later, the match reached its apex following Polish goalkeeper Wojciech Szczęsny’s foul to give a penalty to Greece. Replacement goalkeeper Przemysław Tytoń made a diving save to keep the score tied at 1-1 with ten men on each side.

Ultimately, the result of this exciting inaugural match felt fair as both sides headed home with a point.

Russia 4-1 Czech Republic • June 8, 2012

Russia got on the board quickly with a goal from Alan Dzagoev in the 14th minute. Soon after, play was stopped due to a flare thrown on the field, used as a sort of makeshift firework celebration. On Sunday, the Russian Football Federation warned its fans to “Respect yourself, your home, and your team.” Despite the interruption, Russia would continue to score fairly consistently throughout the match with later goals from Roman Shirokov, Dzagoev, and Roman Pavlyuchenko.

The Czech Republic was not silent though, with a lone goal from Vaclav Pilar. The high-scoring affair ended a superb first day of action in a group that was predicted to be lackluster.

As analyst Alexi Lalas has pointed out, the fascination of Group A comes from the idea that each team in the group truly has the belief that they can advance.

Netherlands 0-1 Denmark • June 9, 2012

Group B’s first goal came from Denmark with a nutmeg from Michael Krohn-Dehli in the 24th minute. Krohn-Dehli has been marked in the media as a possible star of the tournament and could have transfer offers to leave his current side, Brøndby IF.

In the 88th minute, Denmark’s Lars Jacobsen contacted the ball twice with his arm in the box, but the referee controversially let play continue. The Netherlands would end the match with 28 shots to Denmark’s eight. Ultimately, the Oranje suffered the first upset of the tournament due to failure to finish chances.

Germany 1-0 Portugal • June 9, 2012

The second match on Friday featured the first meeting of giants, with Die Mannschaft facing off against Os Navegadores. Portugal set themselves up to absorb pressure for the majority of the match, in a Chelsea-esque manner.

In the 72nd minute, German Mario Gómez leapt into the air, heading down a cross from Khedira into goal. It should be noted that the cross actually deflected off of the back of a Portuguese player before making its way into the box.

Nonetheless, Germany capitalized on a created chance. In the end, it was all that they would need to assert early dominance in the tournament.

Spain 1-1 Italy • June 10, 2012

Saturday’s matches in the “Group of Debt” began with Spain and Italy, the last two World Cup champions. The feared Chelsea goal scorer Fernando Torres began this match starting in his natural position, on the bench. Meanwhile, much of the commentator’s attention throughout the game was directed at the holy terror Mario Balotelli. The Manchester City villain highlighted his performance on a breakaway where he choked by simply failing to kick the ball. Personally, I believe that he was trying to think of a fancy way to get by the goalkeeper and was unable to choose which trick on FIFA 12 he was going to try.

Luckily for the Italians, Balotelli’s ineptitude was negated by Andrea Pirlo’s class performance. His searing passes and assist on Antonio Di Natale’s 61st minute goal were truly enjoyable to take in. Spain would not be outdone, however, responding three minutes later with a typical passing display that led to a slotted goal by Cesc Fábregas.

After the match, Spanish players complained to the media that the conditions of the playing surface made their usual, quick passing impossible.

According to Xavi, “It was super dry and that makes passing the ball difficult.” Talk about first-world problems.

Republic of Ireland 1-3 Croatia • June 10, 2012

Saturday’s battles between failing economies continued as the Boys in Green tried to hold their own against the Vatreni (that’s “The Blazers,” for any non-Croats out there). I’ll forego the generic witty headline about the “bad luck of the Irish” and instead remember the tried and true virtue...you create your own luck in life.

The Irish failed to defend well, allowing goals that were softer than my new kitten. At some points it was difficult to differentiate whether Ireland was bad or if Croatia was good. Croatia’s goals came courtesy of Mario Mandzukic (3’, 48’) and Nikica Jelavic (43’).

Ireland did get a goal from Sean St. Ledger in the 19th minute, but certainly fell to a stronger side. That being said, some of my Irish friends insist that their side was just using this match to lull Italy and Spain into a false sense of security.

The Chicago Fire hold an impressive 10-6-6- record at Columbus Crew stadium in 22 competitive matches since the soccer-specific venue opened in 1999. The Crew may be tagged as “America’s Hardest Working Team,” but the Fire have ruined many of their days working from home. As we once again make Crew Stadium FireHouse East (#FHEAST) this weekend, here are five memorable matches between the two sides in the Ohio capital...

October 10, 1999 • Chicago Fire 2-1 Win

Hosting the Fire at their brand new soccer specific stadium almost a year after the Bob Bradley’s side upended the Crew 2-1 in U.S. Open Cup final, the home side was happy to run out to a 2-0 lead, using goals from Brian McBride (5’) and Jeff Cunningham (65’). The second goal was enough to get the Fire to respond as Ante Razov tallied a penalty a minute later before Chicagoan Tommy Soehn grabbed the equalizer 10 minutes later to take the match to the vaunted hockey-style shootout. The Fire were able to keep the Crew from feeling any redemption, winning the pseudo-penalty decider 2-1 thanks to three saves from goalkeeper Zach Thornton and two goals from Razov and Dema Kovalenko.

April 1, 2000 • Chicago Fire 2-0 Win

This match is notable for featuring four future MLS head coaches in their playing days - Peter Nowak, Jesse Marsch, Tom Soehn, and Robert Warzycha. With all that future managing talent in one match, you’ve got to wonder who on the Fire’s current roster could be a manager in coming years… That’s not to mention future Ring of Fire inductees Lubos Kubik, and CJ Brown as well as Brian McBride (playing at that time for the Crew). Ultimately, the Fire would take this match with a 5th minute goal from Ante Razov and another from Nowak in the 36th.

July 20, 2004 • Chicago Fire 2-1 Win (U.S. Open Cup 4th Round)

Seeing as the team is about to once again begin play in the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup and the current penchant for coming from behind, this one seemed appropriate. Back in 2004, the Fire entered the tournament with a fourth round match at that year’s Supporters Shield winners. The Crew took a 1-0 lead into halftime via Frankie Hejduk’s 27th minute strike but Damani Ralph responded for the Fire in the 65th minute to eventually send it to extra time. Nearing the end of the first overtime period, Chris Armas set up Ralph for the Golden Goal winner in the 105th minute and beginning the team’s run to the 2004 final.

September 8, 2007 • Chicago Fire 1-0 Win

Costa Rican World Cup veteran and former Manchester City striker Paulo Wanchope only played for the Fire for one year, scoring just 2 goals in 12 appearances. Fortunately, one of those came in the 65th minute of this match (anyone noticing a pattern here?) and combining with Matt Pickens’ five saves was enough to collect all three points at Columbus. The result would go a long way towards helping the Fire recover from an early-season slump to eventually make the MLS Cup playoffs and the Eastern Conference championship match.

June 12, 2011 • Chicago Fire 1-0 Win

The 2011 season marked this first year of the club-sponsored fan bus trip to Crew Stadium, with over 500 supporters cheering on the Men in Red behind enemy lines. Both teams fought hard, but as seen in the history between these sides, the excitement was saved until the very end. In the 90th minute, Cristian Nazarit put himself in the right place at the right time to slot home Orr Barouch’s rebound, to take a 1-0 lead. Clearly, the presence of the traveling supporters had been felt by the team and resulted in a truly massive goal.

The victory was also the team’s first in five tries across all competitions at Crew Stadium since the last win on September 8, 2007.